You have probably heard about the “If It Fits Your Macros” (or IIFYM) trend which has been increasing in popularity within the fitness and bodybuilding world. It’s not surprising that the concept was embraced and developed by people within the industry who were sick and tired of adhering to monotonous, restrictive meal plans in which the vast majority of foods were labeled as evil and forbidden. On a personal note, I jumped on the IIFYM bandwagon as well because I was fed up with avoiding certain so-called “bad” foods and also dealing with metabolic burnout from years of caloric restriction. What surprised me was the positive manner in which my body responded to taking in maintenance calories as opposed to constantly functioning at a caloric deficit which only served to slow down my metabolism.

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There I was, in line at the grocery store while sporting the usual sweaty tank top after a workout. As the cashier rings me up she says, “I’ve been trying to lose weight and I eat pretty clean and balanced, am I doing something wrong?” I replied, “Well how much are you eating in a day total?” After a long pause, she answered, “I don’t know.” Then I probably said something witty, smiled, put on my sunglasses like Horatio from CSI and walked away in slow motion.

A recent study published in the journal Obesity sent shockwaves through the health and fitness community like nothing seen in recent months. The study, declaring that you could drink diet soda and lose weight, seemed counter-intuitive and left many personal trainers scratching their heads.

So, a very highly debated topic lately is clean eating versus IIFYM. For those of you that are not clear on what IIFYM stands for, it’s "If It Fits Your Macros". My goal with this article is not to change anyone's opinion on either one. My goal is to simply inform everyone of how IIFYM works. What I have found is almost every post I see about IIFYM is loaded with misinformation on how IIFYM works.